Movie appeal

Police Story 2

(1988)

Police Story 2 Blu-ray features mediocre video and great audio in this mediocre Blu-ray release

His personal war against crime has earned Kevin Chan a demotion from detective to traffic cop just as Hong Kong is hit with a wave of bomb scares. Chan unofficially follows up his own leads and tracks down the bombers, but not before his girlfriend is abducted.

For more about Police Story 2 and the Police Story 2 Blu-ray release, see Police Story 2 Blu-ray Review published by Jeffrey Kauffman on March 8, 2013 where this Blu-ray release scored 2.5 out of 5.

Police Story 2 Blu-ray Review

Jackie Chan is one of the most recognizable international superstars of the past several decades, but as with many
celebrities, that universal recognition didn't come easily. Chan had already been working in the Hong Kong film industry
since he was a child, and eventually gaining some adult work as a stuntman (including in such legendary fare as the
Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon). But as odd as it may seem to us now, there really wasn't that huge of an international market for martial arts
films back in the day (despite the success of the Bruce Lee outings), and Chan, once he matriculated into starring roles
himself, found his career hobbled and he actually left the film industry for a brief time in the late seventies. Despite a
couple of stellar opportunities (including a role in an early John Woo film, the brass ring seemed to be frustratingly out
of reach, even in Chan's native land. That finally all changed with the release of Drunken Master in 1978, and
that film became a formidable template for much of what was to follow in Chan's film career. Broad physical comedy
mixed with over the top action sequences and some incredible stunt work (always performed by Chan himself) became
the norm for many (maybe even most) Chan outings from then on, and the Police Story films are
certainly no exception. 1985's Police Story, also co-written and directed by Chan, was Chan's intentional choice
to mimic the high octane approach of American action films mixed with liberal doses of character based comedy (think Lethal Weapon with a Chinese accent).
And what could be more American than a sequel to an incredibly successful franchise starter—hence Police Story
2.

One of the things that always strikes me as kind of funny about action pictures, whether they're blockbusters like Skyfall or less stellar outings like The Cold Light of Day, is how
the heroes and villains can maraud through a variety of locations wreaking absolute havoc and nothing ever seems to
happen to any of them. The police aren't called, passersby just as often as not look on nonplussed, and life goes on
despite buildings falling over, windows cracking into a million splintered pieces and more than the occasional car turning
over and bursting into flame. And so at least send a little virtual love to Police Story 2 for dealing with this
phenomenon, albeit tangentially, by having our hero Chan (Jackie Chan) upbraided for having caused so much calamity
in
Police Story that he's demoted to being a mere traffic cop.

Police Story 2 (or II if you prefer) picks up right where Police Story left off, and focuses a bit more on
Chan's relationship with his girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung) than the first film did. Chan is still dealing with the
aftereffects of his collaring of the vicious drug lord Chu Tao. As might be expected, Chan and May are soon dealing with
some equally vicious henchman and a kind of nasty smack down convinces Chan that police work is not his cup of tea.

That opens up the second act of the film, where once again as in Police Story a shopping mall plays an
important part in the plot development. This spectacular event in turn gets Chan back on the police force, but also
estranges him from May. Both of these colliding storylines unite when yet another gang of bad guys ends up
kidnapping both of the characters, and Chan has to deal with becoming something of an "explosives expert" himself
(when you see the film, you'll understand what this means).

There are both pluses and minuses to Police Story 2. This is a much more polished production than the
first Police Story. Chan is obviously in greater control of the camera and the staging is noticeably superior to
the first film. The film also has a certain razzle dazzle quality to the set pieces, as if Chan knew going in he had to top
himself. The film is awash in some fantastic stunt work as well as several amazing explosions. But perhaps strangely
Police Story 2 simply doesn't have the effervescence that the first film did. This is especially odd since both
Chan and Leung are arguably much better in this film than they were in the first one. The overall good news is that
there's enough of the fun spirit of the first film still infusing this second outing that it will most likely please the
franchise's fans, if not overly impress those coming into this one cold.

Police Story 2 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1.
Perhaps because the bar was set so low with regard to the first Police Story, this high definition presentation
actually popped quite a bit better by comparison. Colors are noticeably more robust and the image is significantly sharper
and better defined. It appears that Chan utilized soft focus in a lot of shots featuring Cheung and those should not be
mistaken for "softness" in the traditional sense of the term. The elements here are in somewhat better shape than in the
first film with fewer blemishes dotting the premises. While things are better than in the first film, they're still far from
reference quality. Midrange and wide shots still look fairly soft and there are some persistent issues like motion judder that
crop up due to Chan's hyperkinetic camera moves in this film. On the plus side, edge enhancement is much less of an issue
in this outing and this film doesn't have anywhere near the artificial, digitally tweaked appearance that marred the first film,
and in fact I'd say that at times at least this presentation rises above the 2.5 level to approach 3.0 territory, at least in
passing.

Police Story 2 features the same quartet of mixes that the first film did, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 outings in
both Cantonese and English. Once again the dialogue is mixed higher in the Cantonese version than in the English, though
it's not quite as much of a difference as with the first film. This is also a fairly front heavy mix, though this film does offer
more consistent use of the surround channels, especially in the action sequences. There's also more consistent bursts of
LFE in this film courtesy of some earth shaking explosions. Fidelity is very good in both languages, with generally well
prioritized mixes. Once again the music choices for this film leave more than a bit to be desired.

Police Story 2 is a significantly more accomplished film from a number of angles. The performers are more at ease,
the whole production is more professional, and Chan's directing skills are hugely improved (just pay attention to how
graceful the camera moves are in this film, even in relatively static scenes). That said, this outing just isn't as much
fun as the first film. Part of that is due to some unnecessary melodrama between Chan and May, as well as a too
long third act that puts one too many perils in Chan's way. But for fans of the first film, this is a pretty satisfying follow up
despite its flaws. This Blu-ray offers better video quality than the first film (which may be damning with faint praise), and
provides the same very good audio and brief but enjoyable supplements.

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